Palamuru region fails to meet soak pit construction target

Mahbubnagar: The Palamuru region covering five districts - Nagarkurnool, Narayanpet, Gadwal, Wanaparthy and Mahbubnagar - have fallen fall short in reaching the targets of soak pits' construction because of which, the danger of a steep fall in groundwater table looms large across the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district.

According to official statistics, against a target of 6.08 lakh soak pits, only 6.5 per cent of the target has been completed till date, that means only 39,755 soak pits were constructed during the past nine months in the five districts. A senior officer of Mahbubnagar District Rural Development Organisation (DRDO) said that they fixed a target of constructing 1.05 lakh soak pits in Mahbubnagar district this year. However, due to various reasons only 3,542 soak pits were constructed. The major reason for failing to complete the target was that the funds released by the government are insufficient to pay for material and to labor, he stated.

It is learnt that the government had sanctioned Rs 6,400 for the construction of each soak pit and these soak pits are being constructed as part of Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. Of this amount, the authorities are entitled to pay Rs 800 towards labor cost and the remaining Rs 5,600 is paid towards material cost.

The soak pit construction target for Gadwal was set at 1.36 lakh, of which only 10,000 were constructed. In Nagarkurnool district, only 6,223 soak pits were constructed against the target of 1.67 lakh. In Narayanpet, out of the total 79,433, only 9,374

soak pits were completed while in Wanaparthy district, the

officials have constructed only 9,619 soak pits against the target of 1.20 lakh.

Earlier, the State government had issued an order to all municipalities and gram panchayats to make it mandatory for the people, who seek permission for house construction, to construct soak pit in their land and to include the soak pit in their engineering design. However, the municipal and gram panchayat officials are turning a blind eye on this rule and many people in villages and towns are not showing interest to construct soak pits, thus becoming a hindrance in fulfilling the government's target of constructing soak pits in every household.